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Welcome

My new Spotlight report, High School Graduation in NC: Quantity over quality?, has people talking. And by people, I mean state education officials. In this week’s CommenTerry, I respond to their concerns about the report.

Bulletin Board

  • The John Locke Foundation and the Triangle Lawyers’ Chapter of the Federalist Society will host The Honorable David Sentelle, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, for a lecture titled "National Security Law: The Changing Role of the Courts." The event will be held on Friday, October 21, at noon at the John Locke Foundation office in Raleigh. Cost for lunch is $10.00. Register online or call 919-828-3876.
  • The John Locke Foundation is sponsoring a Citizen’s Constitutional Workshop on Saturday, October 22, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Village Hall in Pinehurst, N.C. Historian Dr. Troy Kickler and political science expert Dr. Michael Sanera will discuss "What would the Federalists and Anti-federalists say about the current political and economic crises?" The cost is $8.00 per participant, lunch included. Pre-registration is strongly suggested. For more information or to sign up for the event, visit the Events section of the John Locke Foundation website.

  • The North Carolina History Project would like educators and homeschool parents to submit lesson plans suitable for middle and high school courses in North Carolina history. Please provide links to NC History Project encyclopedia articles and other primary and secondary source material, if possible. Go to the NC History Project website for further information.

  • Visit JLF’s research newsletter archive. It’s what the cool kids read.

CommenTerry

Over the last three weeks, state education officials have been on the defensive. My report on rising remediation rates in community colleges struck a nerve with top officials at the N.C. Department of Public Instruction and members of the N.C. State Board of Education. June Atkinson, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Bill Harrison, Chairman of the State Board of Education, coauthored an op-ed describing their various objections to the report, wrote blog posts about it, and addressed the subject at the October State Board of Education meeting. They even invited me to the Pink Palace to discuss it! Just kidding.

To summarize, an increasing number of recent high school graduates enter the community college system lacking fundamental English and math skills. During the 2009-10 school year, 64 percent of new community college students enrolled in one or more remedial courses, an alarming 7 percent increase from two years prior. Statewide, more than one-half of those community college students who enrolled the year after graduating from a public school took a remedial math course. Nearly 40 percent enrolled in a remedial English course, while one in four recent graduates required a remedial reading course. I argue that our state education agency perpetuates this problem by maintaining inferior curriculum standards and a testing program that continues to set a relatively low bar for students to reach academic proficiency or mastery.

Atkinson, Harrison, and I agree that the community college remediation rates cited above are legitimate, too high, and have enormous implications for our schools. Indeed, I credit their decision to use remediation rates as a performance metric for Governor Bev Perdue’s "Ready, Set, Go" education initiative and the federal "Race to the Top" program. Both sides believe that any solution will require a collaborative approach between the K-12 and community college systems. Most importantly, we understand that one of North Carolina’s top concerns and greatest challenges is graduating public school students ready for post-secondary education and/or employment.

We disagree, however, about the nature, scope, and cause of community college remediation. I do not agree with Atkinson and Harrison’s contention that state-level policy changes have strengthened academic rigor and raised graduation standards across the board. Logically, remediation rates would not have increased if this were the case. On the other hand, I suppose it is possible that even the improved standards still fall below the minimal standards established by the state community college system. If so, then state education leaders should take additional steps to improve our curriculum standards and accountability system.

Moreover, Atkinson and Harrison offer no evidence that community colleges are attracting "students who in the past may have taken their high school diplomas straight to the workforce." The nature of our community college population may have changed, but this would not strengthen their argument. Rather, community college remediation rates would suggest that an increasing number of high school graduates who would have otherwise entered the workforce or military lack basic literacy and math skills.

Just to reiterate, we are talking about basic, not advanced, skills. We should expect every high school graduate to possess basic literacy and math skills. Otherwise, a high school diploma does not mean much.

I will spare you the discussion of some relatively minor objections to their arguments, particularly their unquantifiable assumption that new curriculum and testing standards represent an improvement over existing ones. I think it is more important to consider a broader question: Who is to blame for increasing community college remediation rates? Atkinson and Harrison suggest that the community colleges simply enroll too many students who are not suitable for post-secondary education. But those unprepared students had to come from somewhere. The vast majority of them are products of North Carolina’s public schools.

Atkinson and Harrison brand me a "naysayer." I am not a naysayer; I am a researcher. My job is to ask (often uncomfortable) questions in an effort to give the public a better understanding of K-12 education in North Carolina. State education officials should give it a try. If answers to those questions contradict their established narrative, then so be it. I suspect that our children would be better off for it.

Random Thought

By far, Djibouti is the coolest name of any country on the face of the earth. How awesome is it? The founders had no choice but to call the capital Djibouti. The national anthem is called (you guessed it) Djibouti.

Facts and Stats

NC Department of Public Instruction Goals

Goal 1: North Carolina public schools will produce globally competitive students.

1.1 Every student excels in rigorous and relevant core curriculum that reflects what students need to know and demonstrate a global 21st Century environment, including a mastery of languages, an appreciation of the arts, and competencies in the use of technology.

1.2 Every student’s achievement is measured with an assessment system that informs instruction and evaluates knowledge, skills, performance, and dispositions needed in the 21st Century.

1.3 Every student will be enrolled in a course of study designed to prepare them to stay ahead of international competition.

1.4 Every student uses technology to access and demonstrate new knowledge and skills that will be needed as a lifelong learner to be competitive in a constantly changing international environment.

1.5 Every student has the opportunity to graduate from high school with an Associates Degree or college transfer credit.

Mailbag

I would like to invite all readers to submit announcements, as well as their personal insights, anecdotes, concerns, and observations about the state of education in North Carolina. I will publish selected submissions in future editions of the newsletter. Anonymity will be honored. For additional information or to send a submission, email Terry at [email protected]

Education Acronym of the Week

NCCCS — North Carolina Community College System

Quote of the Week

"No matter how silver the lining, some people only like to point out the clouds when it comes to the state’s public schools. The latest example is a report by the John Locke Foundation that attempts to correlate an increase in high school graduation rates with an increase in remediation rates at North Carolina’s Community Colleges. The report states that marginal students are receiving an easier path to graduation and all but suggests that our high schools are pushing more students out the door just to raise the graduation rate."
— June St. Clair Atkinson and Bill Harrison, "Despite naysayers, graduation rate is laudatory," Monroe Enquirer-Journal, September 28, 2011, p. 6A.

Click here for the Education Update archive.